ON REFLECTION - ZUT ALORS !!!

Allo mes amis,

Zis storee appened in ze late 19 century in Paris in la belle France. It was in Autumn as ze leaves leave ze trees and cover ze ground all around and you crunch zem wiz your feet as you walk on zem. Ze air is misty and grey and you can smell ze chestnuts on hot coal fires on ze little carts of ze chestnuts sellers at every corner of ze street. Zey are hot in your hand as zey warm you and you enjoy eating zem.

Walking by the river side was a short man called Too Lose Le Trick eating ze chestnuts in his hands. Suddenly a man runs towards him and jumps in ze river. He was in Seine, obviouslee.

Anyway ... let me tell you about Too Lose Le Trick. E was a very short man. E was a painter by profession. Not a painter of houses, or furniture or such things. Oh no ... To Lose Le Trick was a painter of pictures you hung on your wall and admire lovinglee. Zat iz if you could afford to buy zem! Zey cost at least one dozen francs each.

E, To Lose Le Trick, e waz known as a post impressionist painter. Zat iz e stopped doing impressions of ozer people, like hiz friends Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. 

Az I waz zaying ... To Lose waz very short. So short in fact zat e could only paint portraits of ze peoples' knees, becauze zis was as far as e could see. E could not see much higher zan people's knees becoze eet gave him a stiff neck to lok up, and also eet waz veree rude. So e settled to become a veree famous painter of ze knees. Ere is a famous painting of his.

Ze model e used for zis knee portrait was too embarrassed to show er knees totally. She was a demure English woman called Enid Brown. Zis painting gave rise to ze English song "Knees up mother Brown" which you may ave heard singing sometime in ze pub.

Too Lose Le Trick e had a small dog with a detachable tail. Ze dog, when a young pupee, e run round and round chasing iz tail and zen e caught it and bit it off. So Too Lose Le Trick, being a resourceful and inventive man, e made a new tail which e clipped on ze dog. Ze tail would wag back and forth with ze power of electrique batteries. For exercise, Too Lose would take off ze tail, throw it far away, and ze dog would run and fetch it back.

Anyway, back to ze storee ... To Lose was walking by ze river Seine and e went to see an old friend of hiz which used to model for him. Her name was Madame Leggert. Her leg did hurt because of her standing still all ze time while e painted her knees. So for compensation for hurting her, Too Lose agreed to do a painting of her which she could sell and make ze monee. E was too short to see above ze knees so she laid down on ze canape instead. Zis is ze painting of Madame Leggert by Too Lose Le Trick.

To Lose Le Trick also liked to visit Ze Moulin Rouge and see ze Can Can dancers so e could paint zeir knees. Ere iz a painting of hiz Can Can dancers.

I ave also a veree old video of To Lose Le Trick visiting ze Moulin Rouge and seeing ze Can Can dancers doing ze Can Can. It is not suitable for ze people wiz a nervous dispositions. Ere it iz: